The present invention relates generally to the field of pallet flow systems and, in its most preferred embodiments, to the field of pallet brake track assemblies.
Wooden pallets are often used during transportation and storage of a large variety of different goods. Although these pallets exist in many different sizes and shapes, many pallets include three or more bottom boards which are separated from three or more top boards by three or more perpendicularly extending support boards, commonly referred to as stringers. After loaded pallets arrive at their final destination, the goods are unloaded from the pallets. Pallet flow systems have existed for many years and have provided relatively organized and efficient methods for removing goods from pallets.
Pallet flow systems commonly include at least one track assembly including wheels and/or rollers supported in an inclined orientation by a strong support structure. The top of the pallet flow system is the loading end, and the bottom of the pallet flow system is the unloading end. During use of a typical pallet flow system, a worker, often with the aid of a fork-lift, places a loaded pallet onto the upper end of the pallet flow system. The loaded pallet, typically along with other loaded pallets, then, due to gravity, flows down the inclined pallet flow system until it reaches the lower unloading end. After the goods are unloaded from the pallet, the empty pallet is removed from the pallet flow system so that the next loaded pallet may flow down to the bottom of the incline. In other environments, the entire loaded pallet is removed from the lower unloading end of the pallet flow system.
During periods of time when pallet flow systems are idle, such as during off-shifts and/or during the night, loaded pallets remain stationary. When heavier loaded pallets rest for prolonged periods of time on many of the previously developed types of pallet flow systems, the wooden bottom boards of the pallets frequently deform around the wheels of the pallet flow systems. After the wheels become even slightly embedded into the wooden bottom boards, it is relatively difficult, and often potentially dangerous, for a worker to re-start the flow.
Large pallet flow systems are also often relatively long and involve significant overall vertical drops. To slow the descent of loaded pallets, which would otherwise accelerate uncontrollably, various types of pallet brake track assemblies have been developed. These pallet brake track assemblies often include similar wheels, or rollers, and further include brake apparatuses connected to the track assemblies. One problem experienced by some of the previously developed pallet brake track assemblies relates to their ability to slow various types of loaded pallets. Very heavy loaded pallets or loaded pallets with warped bottom boards or few bottom boards often flow down these brake track assemblies with little or no restrictions on their velocities.
Another problem experienced by some of the previously developed pallet brake track assemblies relates to the transition between the freely rotating wheels, or rollers, and the brake apparatuses. One type of brake apparatus includes a brake drum located in line with the freely rotating wheels of the pallet brake track assembly. Because the brake drum is often larger than the wheels, the transition between the wheels and the brake drum typically involves a gap in support which allows the pallet bottom boards to deflect or fall downward before reaching the brake drum. In some cases, a loaded pallet becomes stuck on the brake drum, thus interrupting the flow of the pallet flow system. In other cases, the pallet bottom boards collide with and wear or damage the brake drum and/or drum support members. Furthermore, these collisions are often abrupt and damage the goods loaded on the pallet. Finally, the collisions also can tend to undesirably alter the orientations of the pallets.
There is a need, therefore, to provide a pallet brake track assembly which solves these and other related and unrelated problems.